1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of framing pictures, posters and the like.
To hold a picture, poster or similar image carrier a substantially rectangular frame is composed from four identically shaped frame members which are mitred to the desired length and connected to one another to form the four sides of the frame. The frame is put with its front side turned downwardly onto a support base. Then the image carrier to be framedxe2x80x94mostly fitted between a glass plate and a back plate of e.g. paper board or hard boardxe2x80x94is placed with the glass plate turned downwardly into rebates of the four frame members. This manner of framing, according to which a frame is composed first before placing the image carrier, is called xe2x80x9cback loadingxe2x80x9d and is to be distinguished from the manner of framing, which is called xe2x80x9cside loadingxe2x80x9d whereby four mitred U-type frame members are placed from aside about the edges of the image carrier to be framed.
More particularly the present invention relates to a frame member adapted to make frames for pictures, posters or similar image carriers from it, which frame member comprises
a first flange to serve as a support flange for an edge portion of the image carrier to be framed;
a second flange that encloses a dihedral angle with said first flange and is adapted to capture said edge portion laterally;
a press strip which is hingedly connected to said second strip at a location which is spaced from said first flange, such that
the said strip may be moved from an imperative position outside said dihedral angle to an operative position in which the said strip extends obliquely into the dihedral angle to contact the image carrier to be framed and press the same onto said first flange.
2. Prior Art
A frame member of the type above referred to is disclosed in European patent EP 0 375 237 (see the embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4 in particular). With this well-known frame member a press strip is connected through a xe2x80x9cfilm hingexe2x80x9d to the free end of the second flange and is thus formed in one piece wit the two flanges of the frame member. The advantage of this type of frame member is that no separate means such as clamps are required to fix the image carrier in place.
In the European patent EP 0 375 237, however, the frame member is shown rather diagrammatically and both the first flange and the second flange are illustrated as solid parts, whereas the press strip is in fact an extension of the second flange that gradually decreases in thickness and is separated from the proper second flange by a longitudinal cut that extends from the outer side of the second flange through almost the entire thickness of the second flange.
The patent does not disclose how the required pressing force for fixing the image carrier in place can be realized with the press strip.
3. Object and Summary of the Invention
It is therefore an object of the present invention to work out and improve the well-known frame member through simple means and come to a practically applicable frame member, which is adapted to be used for framing pictures and the like according to the xe2x80x9cback loadingxe2x80x9d mode.
According to the teachings of the present invention there is provided a frame member of the general type indicated hereinbefore, which is characterized in that said second flange is in the form of a rectangular box section of which an outer upstanding wall is extendedxe2x80x94in a direction turned away from said first flangexe2x80x94by a flange portion that has its free end connected to said press strip, and further characterized in that said press strip is provided with a snap enagement means that engagesxe2x80x94in the operative press position of the press stripxe2x80x94a complementary snap engagement means on the inner side of said flange portion.
In this connection it is to be remarked that forming a flange of an angled frame member as a hollow box section, which allows two adjacent frame members to be coupled by means of an angled connecting member of which the two legs are each inserted in the hollow box section of each of the two frame members, is known per se with another type of well-known frame member, that does not have a press strip and requires separate clamp means to fix the image carrier in place.
As distinguished from the well-known frame member above referred to, with which the press strip is connected to the second flange by means of a film hinge provided on the inner side, the hinge connection between the press strip and the second flange with the frame member of the present invention is provided on the outer side, whereas on the inner side of the flange portion (press strip) that now is an extension of the outer wall of the box section, a space has been created in which the snap/holding means of the invention may be received without thereby interfering with the placing of an image carrier within a frame composed from the frame member of the present invention.
The frame member of the present invention is very user""s friendly and of a compact design, so that a picture frame composed of the frame member of the present invention has a high degree of rigidity, with only a slight chance of yielding mitre joints. The frame member of the invention is adapted to be formed of one piece of plastic material, e.g. by extrusion.
Further features of the invention will be hereinafter further explained by two examples with reference to the accompanying drawing.